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Prop R, for Rewards at Southwestern College
This article is well written and well researched. Thank you! Now I understand why the incumbent Governing Board Members at Southwestern College are fighting so hard to suppress dissent on campus and to control the media with small "happy news" articles from Mr. Bender's PR office at the college. There is a lot of money at stake here, and a lot of pockets being lined from this Prop R Bond measure, and it is WE the taxpayers that will be stuck with the bill for decades to come. The news is now reporting that the student newspaper on campus (a college newspaper that has won national awards for its journalistic endeavors), the Southwestern Sun, is being told it cannot put out a newspaper in the coming month, and has been served with a "cease and desist" order by the administration. Are these the "extremists" that the campus was seeking to "isolate" and that were referenced in the PR document signed off on by this Alioto person (VP of Business and Finance) to the tune of $100,000? Also, it was reported that the staff union at the college CSEA (California School Employees Association) was served notice by this same Alioto person to the effect that any CSEA Union members that work under his supervision would not be allowed to attend their once a month Friday meeting, as has been the case for decades at the college. What is going on here? What country do these people think they live in? This college needs to be turned around, it really does. As a citizen and a taxpayer I am appalled at how my money is being spent. Honestly.— September 15, 2010 4:35 p.m.
Letters
Master Bender, it takes three PR contracts (Bender, Focuscom, Alvey) to do a series of public service announcements and community outreach? The hire date of the "expert" Alvey (according to SWC Governing Board minutes accessed on-line) reveals that he was hired at about the same time that you came on board (March-April 2010) and that a Mr. Alioto (that name keeps popping up everywhere) approved yet another PR contract (Focuscom, supposedly to promote Prop R, which was ALREADY approved by voters in fall 2008) in the same time frame as your hire, for an amount up to $100,00--quite near your hire date as well. Master Bender, It doesn't sound like your boss at the college has much confidence in you. I hope you are looking around...and I hope SWC has a great Public Relations program, as it sounds that this career is really booming in the South County.— August 22, 2010 7:05 p.m.
Southwestern Suitors
I really encourage everyone to head down to the Registrar of Voters and check out the Financial Disclosure statements for all the SWC Governing Board candidates. It certainly came as a big surprise to me. The biggest surprise, however, can be found in the disclosure statements of candidates Valladolid and Salcido (who I have supported in past elections) who each received EXACTLY $17,500 in campaign contributions between May 20 and June 2, 2010. And the list of contributors reads like a “greatest hits” of awarded contracts (and sub-contractors) voted upon by the SWC Governing Board in the past three years. Here is a sample of the list: Seville Construction Services Inc. $2,500 to each candidate Christopher Rowe (General Contractor for Echo Pacific Const.) $1,000 to each candidate Gould Electric, Inc. $1,000 to each candidate Owen Group, Inc $2,500 to each candidate Consulting and Inspection Services $1,000 to each candidate Infrastructure PAC of the Assoc of General Contractors $2,500 to each candidate I do not oppose construction in our area it is vital to our growth and to our economy, and in fact my own family had a construction business for years in the Midwest, I support this industry. However, this mingling of monies and contracts with political campaigns is a problem for many Americans, including myself.— August 13, 2010 10:33 a.m.
Southwestern Suitors
#9, Interesting ideas, however constructing buildings and cutting classes may be of service to your family, but not to the two students in mine. And I don’t really care how “old the news is” about incumbents receiving financial support from contractors whose BIDS they approve, it is still of real concern to a number of us, INCLUDING the other bidders who DID NOT RECEIVE contracts, of which for Prop R there were many. What goes on behind close doors with “political consultants” and these BIDS can reveal that in fact it is a specific group of contractors that can get funding and are knowledgeable about how to “low-bid” in order to get Governing Board approval. Just a thought.— August 13, 2010 10:30 a.m.
Southwestern Suitors
Ahhh, #1 I am afraid, among other things, you do not have your facts straight. Joe Martinez was hired by then Superintendent/President Serafin Zasueta not Norma Hernandez. All one needs to do is request information from SWC under the California Freedom of Information Act to discover that Martinez’s contract was directed under Zasueta’s leadership not Hernandez’s. Also, I went to the SD Registrar of Voters and examined the Financial Disclosure documents for all the candidates in the SWC Governing Board face and there is NO Joe Martinez listed in Hernandez’s list of contributors. Wow, it seems like there is some real politicking going on here, and an assumption that readers will not check statements that are made in these blogs. I encourage everyone to go to the Registrar of Voters Financial Disclosure section and really read who got what monies from where.— August 13, 2010 10:29 a.m.